Girl, Adopted

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Film phase:Completed

SYNOPSIS

Girl, Adopted is a contemporary coming-of-age story that follows 13-year-old Weynsht from her orphanage in Ethiopia to an adoptive family in rural Arkansas. Weynsht’s story offers a real-time, child’s-eye view of being adopted across race and culture. Without taking a pro- or anti-adoption position, it acknowledges the complexity involved in this increasingly common experience. The film revolves around the central question: what is it like to get everything you need but to lose everything you know?

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

Girl, Adopted is co-directed by Melanie Judd and Susan Motamed.

Melanie Judd produced the fiction feature film, Day Night Day Night, directed by Julia Loktev. Melanie produced Moment of Impact, an award-winning feature documentary, also directed by Loktev and was co-creator and producer of the award winning 5 Minute Project a compilation of 20 films by women from 20 countries. Additionally, Melanie founded a media center in Cambodia, and ran a video training program in the refugee camps in Tanzania. She has produced a wide array of educational and promotional videos for clients such as UNICEF, UNIFEM and the Asia Foundation.

Susan Motamed produced the Oscar®-nominated Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room and co-produced Lightning in a Bottle, a blues tribute documentary with Alex Gibney, director Antoine Fuqua, and executive producer Martin Scorsese. She served as the coordinating producer for the Blues series for PBS, which featured films by directors including Martin Scorsese, Mike Figgis and Wim Wenders. She also co-produced Alex Gibney and Eugene Jarecki’s The Trials of Henry Kissinger. Her credits also include Blue’s Clues and numerous commercials and music videos, including Scream with Michael and Janet Jackson.

NOW PLAYING

Girl, Adopted aired on PBS’ Global Voices in late 2013. It was by far the most streamed program of the season on Global Voices. Based on its PBS broadcast and social media presence, the film has found an avid growing audience in the adoption community and is currently in use in undergraduate and graduate university curricula. Girl, Adopted is currently poised to begin a series of community screenings with partner organizations nationwide.